


She Lives In You

by Chromi



Series: Someday, So I Believe [MarcoAce Week 2019] [5]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Adopted Children, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cuddling & Snuggling, Family Fluff, Gen, Ghosts, Grief/Mourning, Guardian Angels, M/M, MarcoAce Week 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-29
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2021-01-08 01:48:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21227777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chromi/pseuds/Chromi
Summary: Marco sighed as he snuggled up to Ace further, foreheads touching. “Nope,” he said, voice still thick with sleep yet also smugly cheerful, “she’s calling foryou. I’m staying right here unless—”“Papa,” a second voice, their little boy’s, had Marco exhaling hard enough to ruffle Ace’s hair, “Rouge says there’s a ghost!”“Oh look,” it was Ace’s turn to be smug, “Edward’s awake too. You’ve been summoned. Off you go.”





	She Lives In You

**Author's Note:**

> For MarcoAce Week 2019 - day 5, prompt "ghosts".

“Daddy!” The quavering, whimpering voice floated down the hallway towards the master bedroom, “Daddy, there’s a ghost in my room!”

Ace groaned into his pillow but made no effort to move. This was the third night in a row that his daughter’s voice had woken him. The ghost was a new one, though – usually she insisted she could see monsters creeping out from under her bed.

“Da-a-addy,” the four-year-old’s voice drifted in again, and Ace buried his face into his pillow with a louder groan this time.

“She’s calling for you,” came Marco’s sleepy voice from beside him, “you gonna get up?”

“Mmfgh,” was Ace’s muffled reply. The sheets pulled across his back as Marco turned over and slung an arm around his husband’s waist, cuddling up close. “Can’t you go?” Ace whined, turning his face towards Marco and meeting blue eyes barely illuminated in the darkness. “I’ve been up with her at least half the nights this month now.”

Marco sighed as he snuggled up to Ace further, foreheads touching. “Nope,” he said, voice still thick with sleep yet also smugly cheerful, “she’s calling for _you_. I’m staying right here unless—”

“Papa,” a second voice, their little boy’s, had Marco exhaling hard enough to ruffle Ace’s hair, “Rouge says there’s a ghost!”

“Oh look,” it was Ace’s turn to be smug, “Edward’s awake too. You’ve been summoned. Off you go.”

With another sigh, Marco threw the bedsheets off them both, earning a yelp from Ace as the cold winter air hit their skin. Ace scrabbled for the sheets, but they were expertly flung out of reach, making Ace shiver.

“Come on,” Marco said, kissing Ace’s forehead before he sat up, the mattress dipping under his weight, “we’ll both go. Fair?”

Ace grumbled something indistinct as he rose too, slinging his legs over the side of the bed and patting around for the sweatshirt he’d dropped on the floor earlier.

“You don’t really have to get up,” Ace said, feeling guilty, “you’ve got work tomorrow, after all.”

“They’re my kids too,” Marco said gently, easing the guilt out of Ace with nothing but his tone, “I knew I was signing up for broken sleep just as much as you did.” The finality in his voice indicated that this wasn’t something that was up for arguing over… not that they ever _did _argue about much in the first place, both men thankfully on the same page with almost all problems that arose in their lives.

“You think this is worth getting checked out?” Ace asked as he pulled the sweatshirt over his head, shivering slightly. “Or is this to be expected in little kids?”

“It’s pretty normal,” Marco yawned, clicking on the lamp on his nightstand and smiling when Ace made a displeased noise at the sudden flood of light, “children are prone to nightmares and seeing things in the shadows. It’s nothing to worry about at this stage.”

“I just dunno where it’s come from,” Ace said as another wail of _Daddy!_ sounded from the children’s bedroom, “she never used to have nightmares.”

A hand to the small of his back tugged Ace into Marco’s broad, tattooed chest, another kiss was pressed to his forehead, and that was all it took for Ace to stop worrying so much. Marco had his back, and he wasn’t alone in this.

This was all one enormous learning curve for him, the whole being a dad and thus responsible for children thing. It was to Marco as well, of course, but he had at least had experience with his best friend Thatch’s children right from birth. Ace, on the other hand, had never really had much to do with children. He liked them and always had great fun interacting with them whenever the chance came up, but he was the first in his circle of friends to actually have kids. They had originally only planned on adopting one child, but the non-identical twins had captured their hearts immediately, making the choice a no-brainer.

Both of their children were sat up in their beds when Marco clicked on the lamp on the chest of drawers beside their shared bedroom door. Little Rouge was wiping her eyes, her blonde hair rumpled and messy from tossing and turning.

“Daddy,” Rouge whimpered, holding out her arms, and Ace was sure his heart was physically melting inside of himself at the misery in her voice.

“Everything’s okay, sweetheart,” Ace said softly as he scooped his daughter up into his arms and into his lap, kissing the top of her head. He pulled her blankets up over them after swinging his legs into her bed, keeping them both warm. “Did you see a ghost?”

“Mhm,” Rouge nodded, her little hands curling around Ace’s neck as she snuggled into his chest, “but Ed said he couldn’t see it.”

Edward, Rouge’s twin brother, blinked sleepily at Ace, clearly not thrilled to have been woken up. He lifted his arms with a whine to be cuddled by his Papa as Marco sat on the end of his bed; Marco smiled and scooted up the bed to allow Edward to crawl into his lap also, tucking himself into the folds of Marco’s soft, fluffy bathrobe he’d had the sense to grab from their bathroom.

“Papa,” Edward whined into Marco’s chest, “make Rouge stop being silly. There wasn’t a ghost in here. She’s scaring me.”

“There was!” Rouge said hotly, shooting a glare at her twin, “you didn’t see it because you scared it away!”

Ace stroked Rouge’s hair soothingly, glancing at Marco. “What did the ghost look like, baby?” He asked her softly, “can you remember? We can check the house for it and make sure it’s gone, if you like.”

Marco made a noise in the back of his throat that sounded as if he was about to protest wandering around their house in the dark to look for something that categorically did not exist, but Ace shut him up with a look.

“It was a lady,” Rouge murmured, still glaring at Edward in Marco’s hold.

“Not a monster?” Ace asked, surprised, but Rouge just shook her head.

“A pretty lady.”

“What did she look like? Can you remember?”

Rouge screwed up her face, eyes squeezed shut in concentration. “Pretty,” she repeated at last, “with long hair and freckles like yours, Daddy.” She reached up and patted Ace’s right cheek to illustrate her point.

Edward snorted a laugh. “Ghosts aren’t pretty ladies, Rouge,” he said as if his sister was the biggest idiot he knew, “ghosts are _scary_, not _pretty_.”

“She was a _ghost!” _Rouge insisted, but Ace wasn’t paying attention to her arguing with her brother anymore. Neither was Marco. They shared a look, words passing between them that went unheard by their children.

The children, both named after their fathers’ own deceased parents, had of course seen photographs of the late Rouge and Edward. They had also been told, when asked why they were named as they were, that their names were gifts from their grandparents. _Gifts that are more precious than toys_, Marco had said to the children’s amazement. Rouge had then asked to meet her grandmother almost every day for several weeks, insisting that she thank her for her name. _A name’s really special_, Rouge had declared, much to Marco and Ace’s delight, _so I want to tell Granny that I’ll look after it_. Ace wasn’t ashamed to admit that he’d teared up at that.

“Rouge,” Ace said, tightening his hold around his daughter just a little bit, feeling Marco’s eyes on him as he looked into Rouge’s anxious face, “that lady wasn’t a ghost. I promise she wasn’t.” Rouge looked up at him questioningly, her big brown eyes glittering with tears. “What you saw was your guardian angel, sweetheart. It was Granny, coming to check you’re okay.”

Rouge gasped dramatically and whispered, “it was _Granny?”_

Neither of the children understood what death was, of course, as they were too young, but they got the gist of it. They had been taught about heaven and angels in school recently after a classmate’s pet had passed away. The concept of guardian angels had been one that neither twin had taken a particular interest in at the time, seeing as no one they had known personally had died and they couldn’t relate properly, but Edward had asked if their granny and pops now lived in the sky with Bertie’s rabbit.

“I want to see Granny, too!” Edward wailed immediately as Rouge’s entire body relaxed at last, the tension she had held leaving her as she processed her Daddy’s words. “Can you call her back, Daddy? Can I see her too?”

“Why did she come in the middle of the night?” Rouge asked.

“Because,” Marco spoke up, “Granny spends the time when you’re both awake making sure you’re safe. And Pops does, too. They can’t come and see you during the day, so sometimes they sneak down at night to check up on you in person.”

Ace felt warm from the surge of affection for Marco, thankful that he so readily played along with this. It went against his strictly scientific approach to life, Ace knew, but their kids’ comfort came above all else.

“I’m sure Granny will come and see you soon, Edward,” Ace said around the lump that seemed to have settled in his throat, “but angels aren’t supposed to be noticed, right? They’ll get in trouble if someone sees them, so that’s why Granny had to leave before you woke up properly.”

“Did I get her into trouble?” Rouge whispered, suddenly looking terrified. “Will Granny get told off now by the other angels?”

“No, sweetie,” Ace cooed, kissing the top of his daughter’s blonde head, “no, don’t worry. Accidents happen – the other angels know this – but that’s why Granny couldn’t stay long enough to tell you she wasn’t a ghost at all. I’m sure she’s really sorry that she scared you, but she didn’t mean to at all. She loves you both so much, she couldn’t help having a peek at you.”

“Like how you and Papa watch us sleep?” Edward asked, and Marco smiled as he caught Ace’s eye – they _knew _their kids weren’t always asleep when they thought they were.

“Exactly the same,” Marco answered.

After the children had settled back down into their beds and were happily pacified by the story of the angels, Marco and Ace curled up together under their blankets back in their own bed, entwined and whispering.

“She’s dreaming of Mom,” Ace concluded, sighing at the feeling of Marco trailing lazy patterns down his spine, “and she didn’t even realise it. We should get the photos back out and go through them with the kids again, help them recognise them both in case they start dreaming about your father, too.”

Ace closed his eyes as Marco leaned forwards and laid kisses to his eyelids, his nose, his forehead. He was trying so hard to keep the quaver out of his voice, he really was, but Marco just _had _to insist on drawing the melancholy right out of him like poison being sucked from a wound.

“That was a nice touch, turning the ghost into an angel,” Marco said gently as Ace struggled to bite back his tears, “hopefully it won’t backfire and we get them both staying awake all night in the hopes of catching sight of one.”

Ace gasped a laugh, scooting down the bed slightly to bury his face into Marco’s chest to hide the tears that were threatening to fall. He hated it when he felt this weak, this _raw_ whenever Rouge was mentioned when he least expected it, even years after her passing.

“I wish I could see her, too,” Ace mumbled into Marco’s skin despite himself, “I wish I could tell her how much I miss her. I wish—” he swallowed hard, “I wish she could have met our children.”

Marco held him tighter, as if in doing so could squeeze back together all the fractures in Ace’s heart that had never healed from his mother’s untimely passing. At least _his_ father had been older, yet still not old enough, really, when he was taken from this world.

“So do I,” Marco admitted, “they would have loved her.” He kissed away the tears that now silently rolled down Ace’s cheeks, tilting his face up with a thumb to his chin. “And she knew you loved her. She never had any doubts about that.”

And perhaps, if Ace was lucky – or unlucky, depending on how he looked at it – he would see Rouge in his dreams that night when he finally fell asleep. But until then he would indulge in listening to his husband simply breathing as sleep took him, wrapped up in Marco’s strong embrace and feeling so completely loved that it almost edged into something painful.

**Author's Note:**

> I was going to do something Majorly Angsty for this prompt, but this... this sucker-punched me.
> 
> I'm on [Tumblr](https://aishitekuretearigatou.tumblr.com/) if you want to come say hi!
> 
> Comments and kudos let me know if I'm doing something right, and I always love your feedback!


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